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Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Sunshine Shooting Straight from My Bum

Today was one of those mystical days, where for no reason, I was inexplicably in an amazing mood. Everything seemed so GOOD, and HAPPY and full of HOPE [Insert Obama crack here]. My friends are doing well, my family is doing well, we're building our dream home and the weather is screaming SPRING! right in my face in the most glorious way.

Just look at me jinxing myself.

Since I haven't gushed in a while, let me take a moment.

I have the most amazing daughter. Seriously.

I realize that babies are cute, and I did love the nom-nom-ness of that stage, but where she is at right now is leaps and bounds my favorite. The personality, the crazy habits she picks up, the manipulation, the need to be a one-woman show at all times - it's all way more than I could have ever hoped for. I never knew that I was looking for that in life - the ability to relive childhood through your own, but that has got to be one of the most amazing gifts I never asked for.

Random things she loves to do right now that I want to remember forever:

Ready, set, GO! She runs (usually naked before bath time, streaker style) laps around the house on our ready-set-go queue. Some how, the dishwasher is always "base."

Roll and Pinch - She likes to roll things up (mats, paper, trash, etc.) and in between rolls, she pinches her fingers together in the air. I have no idea where she picked it up, but I have a feeling I need to ask her teachers.

Reading - She is obsessed with books now. She wants to "read" to herself, us to read to her, anyone who passes by the house needs to sit down and let her curl up with a book. She fights with her friend Sofia over books at school, it is that serious. Time to learn the word "sharing" in more context than the stomach flu.

Gymnastics - She started gymnastics classes on Mondays and now everything that seems linear in nature is a balance beam. Which makes visiting the construction site with her equal parts fun and dangerous.

Point to Daddy's Owwee - Because Andrew has been in a brace for 4 weeks now, Lilly has caught on that she has to be careful with his arm, and likes to point out his "owwee." Then she will point out any scrapes she has herself. Comparing battle wounds I suppose.

Outfit Assembly - She's come to the point where she wants to dress herself, most importantly she wants to pick her outfits herself. This means that most days my daughter goes in public dressed part hobo, part misfit. Today's request: jelly shoes with winter tights, a corduroy polka-dot dress and 5 necklaces. Her Ciocia would be proud.

Talk on the Phone - She will grab a phone, or anything electronic resembling a phone and have a full-blown conversation with no one in particular. It is babble-time to the max, but she even goes as far as laughing hysterically in "reaction" to no one and slapping her knee at the same time. It is hilarious to watch, and the more we laugh, the more worked up she gets. She's a little performer in the house.

Join Sports - Given her physical nature, I shouldn't be surprised how keen she is on sports. As I've mentioned, she loves gymnastics and swim class, but what I didn't expect is how bold she would be with complete strangers playing sports. Last week we were at the park down town, and a bunch of adults were playing soccer. She ran right up and demanded they kick her the ball. No one prodded her, or even really looked her direction, but once she got right in the middle of it, they had no choice but to add her to the game. She did it again at the park with some of my grad-school buddies. It's one thing to play with her peer group, but she has no sense of bashfulness when it comes to other ages as well. I hope she's always like that.

I realize that this post has turned into more of a time-freeze chronicle for me, but given the rant nature of blogs in general, I have to balance it occasionally with the beauty of nothing in particular. Heart Smiles.